


Does it come with instructions?

by ununpentium



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Baby Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-16
Updated: 2012-02-16
Packaged: 2017-10-31 07:13:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/341342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ununpentium/pseuds/ununpentium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock and John bring home a baby and Sherlock isn't entirely sure what to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Does it come with instructions?

Sherlock and John were staring at the sleeping baby who was lying swaddled in blankets, still in its carry case, currently located in the middle of their sitting room.

“Does it come with instructions?” Sherlock asked wearily.

John scrubbed his hands over his face.

“No. Are you joking? I hope you’re joking.”

“I’m not entirely sure I’m _not_ joking.”

Both men were rapt with fascination as the baby awoke and started to screw its face up, limbs flailing.

“It’s going purple, John I don’t think that’s normal-”

Sherlock was cut off by the screaming emanating from the bundle of blankets.

“It’s crying!”

John punched Sherlock playfully on his shoulder.

“Brilliant deduction, Sherlock! But _he_ isn’t an ‘it’. He’s our son, who by the way has a name- William, and by the looks of things he’s hungry.”

Sherlock gingerly stepped closer towards his son, knelt down and stroked a finger down William’s face. The baby stopped crying and turned his focus onto Sherlock, who was studying his son with the same intensity.

“He’s going to be really intelligent. I can tell.”

John laughed, moving into the kitchen to warm up bottles and milk ready to give to William.

Despite Sherlock’s apparent lack of knowledge surrounding babies, this was something they had discussed ever since they had been married a year ago. They knew that they wanted a child; it was all just a matter of sorting out _how_. John wasn’t too keen on using a surrogate, he felt that babies should stay with their mothers where possible, and he wouldn’t feel right paying a healthy woman to carry a child in order to give it away at the end. They had settled on adoption and had resigned themselves to a long wait, after all babies were hard to come by and were extremely popular with couples. Though, in the end Mycroft must have had a hand in the process, as not six months went past after being approved for adoption before Sherlock and John found themselves at the hospital, waiting just outside the delivery suite in the relatives’ room.

William had seemingly grown bored with Sherlock’s face, or what little he could make out of the world, and had resumed crying.

“If you wait one minute John will have prepared your milk, William. You can stop crying now. It’s on its way!”

John giggled from inside the kitchen.

“You can’t reason with him. He’s a baby. They cry whenever they want something and don’t stop until they have it!”

Sherlock scoffed, “You tell me off when I do that, you say it’s manipulative, and yet it’s perfectly fine for our son to do it?”

John appeared next to Sherlock with a fresh bottle of milk. He looked pointedly at Sherlock.

“You’re thirty six. William is one day old. That’s why.”

John placed the bottle down onto the coffee table, bent down and gently picked William up. John sat on the sofa and arranged William in his arms, making sure to support his head.

“Can you fetch the bottle please?”

Sherlock handed the bottle to John who encouraged William to start feeding by brushing the teat of the bottle against his lips. After a few minutes William finally latched on and began feeding, making small suckling noises.

“You can sit down if you want, Sherlock. He won’t break.”

Sherlock sat down carefully next to John and gently reached out for William’s hand with his index finger. William grasped onto it immediately and Sherlock smiled.

“How do you know how to look after him?”

John chuckled, “Doctor, remember. People tend to thrust babies at you and trust you to look after them. I learned quite quickly how to deal with babies, and nurses are a tremendous help. You’ll pick it up in no time Sherlock. Here, he’s finished feeding, you want to burp him?”

Before Sherlock could reply, John pushed William into Sherlock’s hands. Sherlock arranged William so he was lying against his chest with his head resting on Sherlock’s shoulder.

“Pat his back gently; it encourages the wind to come up instead of settling in his stomach which can cause him pain.”

Sherlock closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of warmth where William was pressed against him. Sherlock dipped his head and breathed in deeply against the top of his son’s head. It smelled warm and pleasant and not entirely like anything Sherlock had smelled before.

“He’s fallen asleep.”

“Okay, you’ve patted his back for a while so now he should go down for a sleep.”

Sherlock walked over to the carry case and gently lowered William into it, covering him up gently with the blankets.

“Look at him- so peaceful.”

“Yeah, we need to make the most of it while it lasts! Give him an hour or so and he’ll be crying again. Babies are exhausting; we should try and sleep whenever he does.”

Sherlock took John’s hand and led him over to the sofa.

“Let’s have a lie down on the sofa, then.”

Sherlock and John arranged themselves comfortably together so they still had a view of where William was sleeping. Sherlock began stroking the back of John’s neck.

“Mmm. S’nice.”

“We’re parents, John. Can you believe it?”

John laughed sleepily.

“Not really, but the paperwork and the baby currently asleep a few feet away certainly suggests so.”

Sherlock pressed a kiss to the underside of John’s jaw.

“I love you.”

John responded with a snore.


End file.
